One Last Visit
by ScruffyLovin
Summary: During "Heroes" part two. Jack has one last chat with Janet.


**Summary: **Jack has one last chat with Janet.

**Timeframe: **During "Heroes" part two.

**Characters/Pairing: **Jack/Janet friendship, Jack/Sam friendship

**Genre: **Angst, Friendship

**Rating: **G.

**One Last Visit**

Blinding white lighting surrounded him, and Jack's eyes took a while to adjust and focus to the brightness. When he was no longer seeing white spots, and his vision had stopped blurring, he was left gaping in confusion.

The last thing Jack remembered was battling off-world when a staff blast came out of nowhere and knocked him on his ass. But now he was standing in the gate room. It just didn't compute.

Taking a good look around, Jack thought he might have somehow, possibly, however unlikely, gotten himself thrown into an alternate universe. He knew he was in the gate room; the likeness was unmistakable. The gate was there, and so was the ramp, but a bright, white light enveloped the entire room and caused the stargate to have an unnatural glow. And besides the glowy gate, and the ramp, there was nothing else in the room.

"Colonel."

The gentle, lulling voice had Jack spinning around with surprise. His brows knitted together slowly. "Doc?"

She smiled, and it was a gentle, sad smile. And she had an odd glow about her, too, just like the gate. As Janet nodded and waved him over, he suddenly realized that there was an empty gurney from the infirmary just behind her. She took a seat and motioned for him to occupy the space beside her.

Jack knew he should be feeling incredibly unsettled at the moment, but he wasn't. All he felt was peace, and that was something he hadn't felt in quite some time. He sat down obediently beside Janet. "What's goin' on, Doc?"

She sighed, placing a hand on his knee. He felt a sudden swell of warmth flitting through his entire body at the touch. "I'm dead, Jack."

He blinked, stupefied, and disbelieving. She hardly ever called him by his first name, unless it was something serious. "What?"

Janet just gave him a tranquilizing smile. "I was killed during the battle, Colonel, protecting Airman Wells."

Jack's jaw dropped, and he felt like the floor had gone out from under him, his stomach doing somersaults. "But-"

"Listen to me, Colonel, we don't have much time," Janet said, her voice rising in urgency. "I'm fine where I am, now. I'm at peace. I just want you to let the others know that I'm okay, and it was no one's fault that I died. It was the Jaffa's fault. I care deeply for all of you, and I want you to know that." She paused, briefly. "I'm going to miss everyone, and I need you and the others to take care of Cassandra for me, okay? I know she won't take this well."

Jack nodded, but his jaw was still slackened with shock. There were tears in the doctor's eyes, and he lowered his chin with a heavyhearted frown. "Doc… We're all gonna miss you," he said in a voice that was low and gravelly with emotion.

She smiled warmly as her hand slid off his knee.

A thought suddenly struck him as he took a look around his odd, glowy, bright surroundings. "Doc, if I'm here with you right now, am I-?"

"No," Janet assured him quickly, a smile flashing across her face. There were lines around her eyes and mouth that betrayed her worry. "You were hurt badly, Colonel, but you're not going to die." She twisted on the gurney, slightly, to face him better. A determined look shined in her dark eyes. "I won't let you."

He quirked a small grin. "Oh yeah?"

"Yep." She nodded, reaching out to touch his forehead. "There's still much you've got to live for, sir, and I'll be damned if any member of SG-1 dies on my watch."

Jack chuckled sadly. He wanted to return to the living, to be with his team, his family, but he didn't want to leave Janet behind. Never leave a man behind.

"You're not leaving me; It's okay. This is my place now," Janet told him gently, as though reading his thoughts. For all Jack knew, she really was. Hell, he wasn't even entirely sure this was all actually happening.

His brows furrowed, a sigh escaping. "Sure you're gonna be alright, Doc?"

She cupped the side of his face affectionately. "It's time for you to go back home now, Jack."

"Wha-" Jack jerked his head back as pain shot through his chest, robbing him off his breath. He clenched his eyes shut in agony as the surrounding bright lights closed in on him.

He kept his eyes shut as a soothing hand gripped his own, and Jack felt the familiar warmth of liquid pain relief flooding through his veins. "Doc?" he mumbled unthinkingly, his voice raspy. He was disoriented, but deep down got the feeling that what he'd experienced had been real.

"No, sir." A sniffly, familiar voice. Carter. "It's Carter." Yep.

He heard retreating footsteps, probably a nurse; the one that had given him the meds.

Jack's eyelids fluttered open as the pain reliever coursed through his system, momentarily chasing away the terrible ache in his chest. His dark eyes focused slowly on the concerned face hovering over him. "Fraiser-" he said slowly with a painful cough, noting Carter's red, watery eyes.

She sniffed, then produced a tissue from somewhere and wiped at her nose. "Sir, Janet… She's… She didn't…" Carter wasn't capable of saying the words.

"She's gone," Jack said it for her. His voice was weak, but by the jerk of her head, he knew Carter had heard him. "I know," he breathed tiredly.

"Sir?"

He gave the hand still holding his a squeeze. Feeling like everything would be alright now, Jack let his eyes close once more as he finished speaking, drifting off as he did so. "She's okay. I saw 'er. Told me…to come back…home. It's okay…"

Just before he allowed himself to slip back into oblivion, Jack felt Carter's warm lips brush his cheek, followed by her whispered words.

"I'm glad you came home, Colonel."

Despite the sorrow at their unexpected loss of Janet, Jack knew she'd still be looking after them, and truly felt like everything just might really be okay after all.

-The End-


End file.
